Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

We had a great 4-day vacation in Minnesota, catching up with my family. Grandpa looks and sounds far better than I expected him to, considering he just had a stint put in and is more bruised-up than a Safeway apple (please don't sue).
He'll be starting chemo in July.

Z-Kid and I almost burst ourselves laughing at the insane ramblings of Lenon Honor (more on him tomorrow), bad anime, the Nostalgia Critic, and lots of other stuff.
It turns out I am the most uncoordinated Wii Fit user in the short but colourful history of Wii Fit. After the ski jump, I actually had my Mii pounding its fists on the ground and sobbing. But I'm pretty good at Boom Blox.

Richard was in heaven - he got to swim in an actual lake, eat meat every single night, and watch lots of pelicans.

This was a vacation vacation for me - no blogging, no Facebook, no Sims. Heck, I didn't even check my email. It was wonderful. I'm glad to be back, but it was good to take a breather.
The only interruption was when we passed a 40-foot hand-lettered "billboard" somewhere between Winnipeg and Ontario (can't recall), among all the other homemade billboards of half-dead fetuses and vaguely menacing Bible passages (GOD IS NOT MOCKED). It read "You can't cover the truth!" above INFOWARS.COM in huge letters. Ye gods. This is why I started Leaving Alex Jonestown. Not because Alex Jones is worse than Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh, but because I don't see their websites smeared across giant hillbillyboards in the middle of freaking nowhere. He has clearly captured the hearts and, um, minds of the rural paranoid. Anyway, other than the billboard I managed to avoid Alex Jones for nearly an entire week. I feel smarter already.

Speaking of billboards, could someone please explain the billboards in Winnipeg to me? One was just an old woman holding up a heaping bowlful of what appeared to be oversized Crunchberries. Everything in the picture was mauve. It read "Colourful Clara" or another name that begins with C, and that was it.
I also saw a spice store that was called, I kid you not, Spice World. And the slogan painted on the window was "Spice up your life!". Srsly.

I stayed away from the news, more or less. I'm eager to see what kind of wild conspiracy theories have already sprouted around Jacko's death, other than Richard's (Iran killed him to distract the media) and Alan's (he's not really dead).

The only snag in our holiday was that our return flight was kept on the ground for a couple of hours after landing, thanks to thunderstorms. I read most of a Kathy Reichs mystery during the wait. It was gawdawful.

Sophie, as usual, wasn't too thrilled when we ended her vacation at the bunny spa. But I've bribed her halfway into liking me again, with some banana and kale.

Here are a few pics of the family (well, my grandparents - my folks haven't outed themselves too much with photos on their own blogs, so I'll continue that tradition for now).
I have great vids of my grandpa complaining about the salt in hospital food and me & Z-Kid trying to explain Skype to Mom ("how will you guys find each other if you don't know your names?"), but I'll keep those private too. ;D

Grandpa
Just awful.
Grandma

8 comments:

Wandering Coyote said...

I'm glad you had such a good time!

Candy Minx said...

I bet you are well rested from the sounds of it. What a lovely holiday. I sure like the sounds of swimming ina lake!

I wonder how the break will affect your writing and blogging?

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Those are great photos, sounds like a very full vacation. Billboards in other cities are often perplexing, aren't they, if you are not in on the joke?

S.M. Elliott said...

I think taking a break from Jones did the most good - my blood pressure probably went down, and I'm sure I regained a few IQ points. ;D

But my writing might be choppy for a few days, thanks to my over-relaxed brain cells. Like, "I did stuff and stuff. And then some stuff happened."

I need to start photographing funky billboards and signs. I've seen some great ones over the years, but they usually don't stay up long. The GOD IS NOT MOCKED poster is an honest-to-god one in Ontario; the ex and I used to pass it on the way to his parents' house in the country.

tshsmom said...

I don't post pictures of Dad and me because I never take pictures of us.

Our Saturday night party was so wild that we had panties in the driveway on Sunday.

S.M. Elliott said...

They searched my bag in Winnipeg, but thankfully they didn't ask about the panties-in-a-bag... ;D

tshsmom said...

Good thing I wrung them out. ;)

tweetey30 said...

I know I love visiting but isnt it nice to get back to your own home after a few days?? LOL.. Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Tell Richard Hi and a pat on Sophies head for us.